Prison Beds

BY RAISING the state sales tax to 7 cents, Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher would fund 34,000 additional prison beds and thereby make it possible for criminals to serve their full sentences.Gallagher wants to solve a problem that wouldn't exist if we realized that drug use and abuse is a disease. The cure is through education and treatment centers, not through throwing people into prison. We already have more than 1 million ''drug offenders'' in prisons throughout the country and, since 1980, we've spent more than $100 billion trying to win the unwinnable drug war. As long as we continue to label as serious criminals those who violate the drug laws, the prison problem will get worse . . . and we'll soon go broke in the process.

When it comes to reforming Florida's corrections system, Gov. Rick Scott is the reluctant swimmer. You know, that guy who grudgingly presses ahead, dips a toe to test the water, and then jerks back with alacrity. Last month, Scott revealed his $74.2 billion "It's Your Money Tax Cut" budget. He proposes boosting the Department of Corrections' line item by $144 million. That money, in part, would fund "proven rehabilitative programs to aid in keeping repeat criminal behavior down after release," the governor's office declared.

AS I read your editorial titled ''The Prison Myth Lingers,'' it seemed to strike a chord with me: ''That's exactly the way I believe!''Having worked in Tomoka Correctional Institution here at Daytona Beach on three weekends in the ''KAIROS'' program, which is a spiritual weekend for about 42 inmates at a time, I have met many fine men. I believe that just building and building more and more beds is not the answer for our problem. Reality would show that if this continues, we would eventually have half of Florida covered with prison beds!

SUWANNEE COUNTY -- The steel doors, microwave sensors, electrified fencing and razor wire that cocoon Florida's newest $184 million prison are meant to hold the state's worst violators. "If he comes here, he's the worst of the worst. He's assaulted inmates, tried to escape, assaulted staff," says Jim Witt, warden of Suwannee Correctional Institution, still under construction about 70 miles east of the capital city. "If the Department of Corrections is a hospital, this is intensive care."

Florida Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher withdrew from leading a statewide citizens petition drive for more prison beds Friday, fueling speculation that he will soon announce his Republican bid for governor.In a letter to Citizens For A Safe Florida, Gallagher said he will be a candidate for statewide office, also leaving the door open for a re-election bid for his current job.''I will continue to actively support the petition drive, but obviously to comply with the spirit of the elections laws I need to conclude my formal association with your group,'' Gallagher wrote in a letter to Eva Armstrong, executive director for Citizens For A Safe Florida.

Gov. Lawton Chiles said Monday he will release plans this week to build more prison beds so violent offenders are kept behind bars longer.Chiles said details were not complete, and he could not say how much money or how many beds would be involved. But he said the plan would include more than the 3,600 prison beds he requested in his budget proposal and would ensure there is enough money to run them.The proposal would include juvenile facilities and diversion programs for non-violent offenders.

When Bob Martinez was Florida's governor, he added 23,000 beds to the state prison system.Guess what. Florida still has the nation's highest crime rate and continues to grant early release to potentially dangerous prisoners to make room for other criminals.Now, three years since Mr. Martinez left office, his successor, Gov. Lawton Chiles, insists that another 21,000 prison beds are needed to help curb crime.Even if Mr. Chiles gets his wish, don't be surprised in three years to hear a new pitch to curb crime by adding another 20,000 beds to the prison system.

From thousands more prison beds to academies and after-school programs for troubled youths, Gov. Lawton Chiles is calling for an all-out attack on crime in his proposed $38 billion state budget.''Our people expect and deserve to live in safe communities where their children can attend safe schools,'' Chiles said Tuesday. ''They need safe streets, and we're answering that call. We intend to open nearly 15,000 new prison beds and close a violent chapter in Florida's history.''The governor's proposed 1994-95 budget, which would increase state spending by 7 percent, emphasizes both punishment and prevention in an attack on the high-profile crimes that have sullied Florida's image around the world.

State lawmakers moved swiftly toward agreement Monday on a plan to build 10,524 prison beds during the next two years, avoiding a cigarette tax increase and the need to release a wave of violent criminals this fall.Though Gov. Lawton Chiles had previously pushed for new taxes to expand prisons by twice as much, he expressed satisfaction with Monday's compromise. It is designed to ease crowding in Florida's prisons until at least February 1995. Prison officials had warned that the state would have to start releasing violent inmates by this October unless more beds are added.

Loran Cole walked free from a state prison last June to help ease Florida's prison crowding.He had served only 1 1/2 years of a five-year sentence for grand theft.Today, Cole is back behind bars, charged with first-degree murder in the death last month of Florida State University student John Timothy Edwards, who was camping in the Ocala National Forest.Thousands of Florida's prisoners have been released early to relieve prison crowding. Most have served only a small portion of their sentences, an average of 41 percent.

Florida's rush to build more prison beds even as the state's serious crime rate stands at a 30-year low signals trouble ahead for the nation's justice system. All this prison building is neither fiscally sound nor morally justified. The United States remains in the prison-building business like no other Western democracy. In Western Europe, for instance, about one of every 1,000 people is behind bars. In this country, it's one of every 143 people. Those numbers are much worse for young black males, whose sentences are disproportionately tough compared to sentences for whites charged with similar crimes.

Florida lawmakers could have addressed the rapid growth of the state-prison system with proven cost-effective means. Instead they've picked the most simplistic and expensive route of all -- building more prisons. People convicted of drug-related crimes account for the single largest group of prisoners in Florida, but that group also responds to rehabilitation better than most other categories of prisoners. Florida prisoners who complete drug-rehabilitation programs are much less likely to end up in prison again than those who fail to complete the programs.

Armed criminals in Florida committed more than 34,000 crimes with a gun in 1997, victimizing more than 93 people a day. These victims receive a life sentence of pain and fear - if they are not murdered. The perpetrators who impose these sentences on victims must be punished and removed from society to protect innocent people.The proposed ``10-20-Life'' legislation, which I sponsored in the Florida House of Representatives and which Sen. Daniel Webster, R-Orlando, has sponsored in the Senate, would provide appropriate, mandatory prison terms for violent felons and drug traffickers who use guns to commit felony crimes.

Florida lawmakers are giddy about finding $153 million in new state money, even though the windfall stems from having freed thousands of criminals who could be behind bars.State budget-writers just learned they'll need to pay for 7,840 fewer prison beds than anticipated this year. The reduction means lawmakers should have at least $153 million more to spend and perhaps as much as $205 million.The demand for prison beds is down largely because judges and prosecutors are ignoring tough sentencing guidelines imposed by the Legislature, most recently in 1995.

The situation: Florida's perpetually tight financial situation continues, compounded even further this year by the November elections. The governor's $40-billion budget contains no new taxes, although Gov. Lawton Chiles is pitching about $75 million in new fees.What to watch for: Chiles has dedicated his past three years in office to improving the lot of Florida's children. The budget has more money for education, day care, health programs and juvenile crime prevention.Who will try to make it happen: Chiles, of course, but Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay will be the most vigorous lobbyist for most of these issues.

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles should veto the Legislature's plan to finance the building of enough prison space to accommodate 65,000 more prisoners.The spending plan the Legislature submitted to Mr. Chiles as the centerpiece of the state's budget calls for a massive prison-construction plan to be paid directly out of tax revenues.The construction project will more than double the state's number of prison beds by 2005 - more as a result of political posturing than real need.The problem with the pay-as-you-go approach, though, is that it would gobble up hundreds of millions of dollars of tax money for the next several years.

Prisons to Go is setting up shop east of town.The Dura-Stress company at Lisbon will be churning out thousands of portable concrete cells this summer to keep robbers, muggers and other crooks tucked safely away from society. Complete with doors, windows, toilets and even beds, the units will be trucked to prisons around the state to house prisoners that the public has demanded be kept behind bars.''They are all furnished except for the inmates,'' said Ron Kronenberger, a state prison official involved in the project.

In the current debate over whether to build more state prisons there's a major point that seems to be missed.Florida has thousands of prison cells that are now occupied by people who aren't even U.S. citizens, and they're costing us a fortune.State Department of Corrections records show that there are 3,300 foreigners serving time in Florida prisons.It costs at least $40 a day to take care of each prisoner; so the daily cost of non-U.S. citizens in Florida prisons is $132,000, or $48 million a year.

Gov. Lawton Chiles' top aides Friday downplayed remarks suggesting he might veto the state's proposed $39-billion budget and call lawmakers into a June special session.But they insisted that many, yet-unspecified budget vetoes are likely in coming weeks and could total some $250 million.''Obviously, we and the Legislature were at opposite sides on a lot of issues this session,'' said Tom Herndon, Chiles' chief of staff. ''That difference may be manifested in vetoes.''Included in the vetoes may be $100 million earmarked to build 3,700 new prison beds, Herndon said.

When the Florida Legislature reconvenes today, lawmakers will have only two things on their minds: giving their final approval to the state's $39 billion budget and getting out of town.Legally, the budget is the only matter lawmakers are obliged to address during their session. Morally, though, lawmakers let the people of Florida down by once again leaving unaddressed one of the state's most important issues: finding a way to help needy Floridians get health insurance coverage.Legislation to address that need should be on Gov. Lawton Chiles' desk for his approval.